DLW's Most Popular Stories of July

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GameStop Agrees to Settle Data Breach Class Action: GameStop Corp. reached a settlement agreement in a class action lawsuit from customers whose personal information was compromised in a six-month-long data breach at the Texas-based video game retailer. Plaintiffs attorneys said in court papers, filed July 16 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, that GameStop has agreed to pay up to $235 to each plaintiff for a range of potential costs resulting from the breach, which exposed customers’ credit and debit card numbers to fraud and identity theft. Under the proposed settlement, class members who suffered the most harm would receive as much as $10,000 to cover “extraordinary expenses.” (Photo: Dwight Burdette/wikipedia) READ MORE

Del. Court's New Filing Deadline Addresses Work-Life Balance but Highlights Enduring Rift: A new Delaware Supreme Court policy imposing an earlier filing deadline for most state court cases highlighted a years-old divide among attorneys in a wider effort to address work-life balance in the legal profession. The change, announced July 16 in an order from Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr., moved the filing deadline in non-expedited cases from 11:59 p.m. to 5 p.m., in an attempt to “ease the burden of a late filing deadline on staff and attorneys.” However, a 2015 report from a committee impaneled by the Supreme Court found that a majority of practitioners in each of the state’s five courts opposed a 5 p.m. deadline. (Photo: Fotolia) READ MORE

Kavanaugh's Time as Stapleton Clerk Was First Step on Judicial Career Path: Long before his nomination to serve as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh (right) got his start clerking for Walter K. Stapleton (left), the influential federal judge who has served as a mentor to some of the most prominent figures in Delaware’s legal community. Kavanaugh’s work for Stapleton in 1990 came before a clerkship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and, eventually, a stint with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the man he now hopes to replace. READ MORE

Chancery Court Lawsuit Opens New Round in Ugly Fight Over Noncompetes: Georgia-based medical services company Bako Pathology this week sued to stop its two founders from opening a competing firm, the latest development in a legal saga that has exploded with allegations of illicit sex, violence and illegal drug use. The dispute, now unfolding in two Delaware courts, centers on Dr. Bradley Bakotic, a podiatrist and former Bako CEO, who left the company with co-founder Dr. Joseph Hackel in 2017. Late last year, the pair filed suit in Delaware Superior Court, asking a judge to invalidate their agreements not to do work competing with Bako for two years after departing. On July 18, Bako fired back with its own Delaware Court of Chancery lawsuit, accusing Bakotic and Hackel of replicating the same marketing strategy they developed at Bako in order to start a rival firm and lure business away from Bako. (Bakotic Pathology Corp. in Alpharetta, Georgia. Photo Credit: Google) READ MORE

Pepper Hamilton Files Action Seeking FBI Records of US Troops' WWII-Era Heist of Crown Jewels: Attorneys from Pepper Hamilton are aiding a Delaware author in his bid to force the FBI to release records of the agency’s investigation into the theft of crown jewels belonging to the House of Hesse, a German royal family, by U.S. soldiers at the end of World War II. The Pepper Hamilton lawyers representing the author, William McMichael, said in a federal court filing on Tuesday that the FBI has improperly withheld more than 7,000 pages of documents potentially related to the heist, which resulted in the court martial and conviction of three U.S. Army officers in 1946. READ MORE

Cozen O'Connor Bulks Up Bankruptcy Practice With New Wilmington Partner:After a decade at Maryland-based midsize firm Whiteford Taylor Preston, Delaware bankruptcy attorney Thomas Francella Jr. joined Cozen O’Connor as a partner in the firm’s bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring group. His addition brings the number of partners in Cozen O’Connor’s Wilmington office to seven. Also based in that location are the firm’s bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring co-chairs, Mark Felger and John Carroll III. The firm opened in Delaware in 1999. Francella said his previous firm was “excellent,” but was concentrated on the East Coast, and Cozen O’Connor provides a more national platform. “They have a very solid restructuring group and a lot of great opportunities,” he said. ( Photo courtesy of Cozen O’Connor.) READ MORE

Judge Grants Preliminary Approval of $210M Settlement in Wilmington Trust Shareholder Suit: A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a proposed $210 million settlement in a shareholder class action accusing Wilmington Trust of hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans from regulators and investors. U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno on Tuesday said the terms of the agreement, struck in May, appeared adequate to resolve investor claims against the century-old institution. Under the settlement, Wilmington Trust would pay $200 million, and auditing firm KPMG would pay $10 million.(Wilmington Trust headquarters in Delaware. Photo Credit: Photo: RevelationDirect via Wikimedia Commons) READ MORE

Family of Murdered Wilmington Woman Sues Cabela's Over Alleged 'Straw' Purchase of Gun: The family of a Wilmington woman killed in a 2016 drive-by shooting sued Cabela’s Inc. in Delaware state court on July 25, accusing the outdoor sporting retailer of negligence in selling the murder weapon in a straw purchase. The lawsuit, filed by the family of 19-year-old Keshall “KeKe” Anderson, alleged that Cabela’s violated state and federal laws when its Wilmington store sold a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol to Brilena Hardwick, who then turned the weapon over to her boyfriend, John Kuligowski. Kuligowski, a convicted felon, was barred from purchasing firearms, court documents said. READ MORE

Ex-Big Law Associate Charged With Stealing From Harlem Church: A former law firm associate was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for allegedly stealing $600,000 from a Harlem church he represented in a real estate transaction. John Shasanmi, 39, of Wilmington, Delaware, was charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. According to past law firm newsletters, a bar article and online listings, Shasanmi was at one time an associate at Pepper Hamilton and had also worked at Dewey & LeBoeuf and DuPont. READ MORE

Former Sussex Chief Prosecutor Files as GOP Hopeful for Del. Attorney General: The field of candidates vying to become Delaware’s next attorney general has been set, after former Sussex County chief prosecutor Peggy Marshall Thomas this week filed as the only Republican seeking the post. Thomas, who served in the Department of Justice for three decades, officially entered the race on July 9, one day ahead of the state filing deadline. Unopposed on the Republican side, she joins a crowded field of Democrats hoping to succeed Matt Denn, who announced last year that he would not seek re-election in November. READ MORE

Zack Needles

Zack Needles is Global Managing Editor, Regional Brands at ALM. He is also the Managing Editor of The Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania Law Weekly, Delaware Business Court Insider and Delaware Law Weekly. Contact him at 215-557-2373 or zneedles@alm.com. On Twitter: @ZackNeedlesTLI.

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